Ex-clergyman admits to sexually abusing girls at Kyoto church

Kyodo News/August 23, 2005

Kyoto -- A former clergyman of a Kyoto Prefecture church admitted in court Tuesday that he sexually abused seven girls who were members of his congregation between 2001 and 2004. Tamotsu Kin, 62, a Japan-born South Korean national who headed the Central Church of Holy God in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, told the court: "I will not dispute the allegations. I have nothing more to say."

Kin was indicted on charges of sexually abusing the girls in his office on 22 occasions between March 2001 and September 2004, while telling them they would languish perpetually in hell if they acted against his will. "I hated it but I could not resist him when I thought I'd be sent to hell," the prosecutors quoted one of the girls as saying.